To understand Freeport Intermediate School, one must have at least a passing acquaintance with the context of Texas education and, in particular, with the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS). The school recently received the Texas Successful Schools Award for maintaining its high TAAS scores. In the 1992 - 93 school year, Freeport was a low-performing school. In 1999, Freeport narrowly missed "exemplary" status which requires 90 percent of the school's student population to pass the TAAS. The year before, although more than 90 percent of all other students passed, only 89.6 percent of the economically disadvantaged students passed the writing portion of the TAAS. Principal Clara Sale-Davis says, "We missed by .4 percent. One child may have thrown us under an exemplary ranking -- but every child counts."

According to Ms. Sale-Davis, schools in Texas have embraced accountability. The state has been testing students since 1979, and testing is part of Texas school culture. The statewide director of the Mentor Network says that critics of the TAAS should look at the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills. "It's everything you want every kid to know. The state is now in its fourth generation of testing. The TAAS is absolutely about what kids should know and be able to do," he says. "The first generation of testing looked at 'basic skills.' Then we moved to 'minimal skills.' Then we got 'academic skills' in the title. Now it is 'essential knowledge and skills.'" For instance, the math portion consists of multi-step math problem-solving. In another element, children have the opportunity to perform in front of a group of peers. Most important, say the statewide directors, "this is the first time we are implementing a curriculum before testing the kids."

Ms. Sale-Davis challenges TAAS critics to log on to www.tea.state.tx.us to see the tests: "I encourage anyone around the nation to look at the test and say it isn't focusing on higher-order thinking skills." She also notes that "the bar is rising," moving from "essential elements" to Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, which stress "application of basic knowledge, for instance, going from computation to problem-solving, from comprehension to application of comprehension." Yes, she says, the curriculum is focused on the test items, but "the test is aligned to Texas and national standards. We are teaching to the standards. We are not test-driven; we are accountability-driven. We are accountable for all childrens' learning the goals, regardless of their ability or language acquisition."

The emphasis on accountability has paid off. Freeport's test scores used to be much lower than those of Lake Jackson, a nearby middle-class community, and the superintendent was hired to fix this discrepancy. He went to work on achieving parity in facilities first. Now located in a sunny two-year-old building, Freeport used to be housed in what was originally a high school, built in 1929 and condemned for 10 years before the current school was built. The old building had no elevators and the air conditioning was broken.

Previously a fifth grade teacher and elementary administrator, Ms Sale-Davis arrived as principal of Freeport in 1995 - 96. During her first year, she was also principal of an elementary school. After a year of holding both positions, she asked the superintendent where he needed her most. He chose Freeport.

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